“Bargain-hunters have been accumulating positions in exchange traded silver products, with holdings now just shy of the record highs seen in October 2013. In contrast, non-commercial short interest in the futures market is near a record high (chart below), boosting futures open interest to the highest level since February 2008. Last week, silver declined for the 11th consecutive week, the longest period in the history of our weekly database since 1968. With short positioning stretched, a sharp short-covering rally for silver is becoming a possibility,” said ETF Securities in a recent research note. [Silver ETFs for the Adventurous]
Investors have been allocating new money to silver ETFs even as gold funds bleed assets. During the third quarter, SLV added nearly $514 million in new assets while almost $774 million was pulled from the SPDR Gold Shares (NYSEArca: GLD). [Gold ETFs Dwindle]
iShares Silver Trust
ETF Trends editorial team contributed to this post. Tom Lydon’s clients own shares of GLD.